Well, I was preparing to submit a post about how we are heading out this Friday for our very first trip in the new 233S. I was going to talk about how we spent the entire winter/spring stocking it, booking trips, getting us ready - the works. About how the 3 little ones were getting so excited about the first camping trip - over Mother's Day weekend. But, instead I'm now going to talk about something far more entertaining...

This afternoon, the wife and I picked up the TT from the local dealer (they dewinterized it, added some Max Air vent covers, installed a Tornado, and did a few other things) so that we could stage it in the driveway to get ready for the trip. I was backing it in (we live in a quiet residential neighboorhood w/ no thru streets) and had the trailer wheels j-u-s-t reaching into the driveway when WHAM!!!!! Yep, some %&$!@^# decided he didn't want to wait the extra 20 seconds for me to clear the street so he decided he could just pass to the left from behind and squeeze himself between the curb and my TT. He never freakin' slowed down! My wife, who was in the driveway spotting me, saw him approach and assumed he was going to stop, but when she realized he wasn't, she simply couldn't scream fast enough before impact. Of course, I'm looking the other direction when all of a sudden I hear and feel that unmistakeable crashing/crunching sound. You all can guess the string of 4-letter words that flowed from our mouths. Funny enough, we both screamed at the exact same time: "It's brand f****** new!" It was all I could do to keep the wife from literally killing the idiot.

Even though it was largely a glancing blow, he hit the TT so hard that shattered orange side marker lens pieces sprinkled down on the windshield of my TV. Once I straightened out the TT on the side of the road, I got out expecting to see total destruction. Much to my surprise, it wasn't cosmetically as bad as I tought. He hit the TT on the front left, about 6 inches in front of the slide and all the way to the front corner. All the trim pieces are shot, but there were no punctures of the sidewall or exposed seams, etc. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he bowed in that section of the sidewall. And much more concerning, it looks like he flexed the slide because it's sure not straight now. The front edge is about 1-2 inches from the seal while the back edge is pressed against it. OF course, if the slide is still square and true, that means he really did bow the front sidewall.

At least the idiot had the gumption to sorta own up and file a claim w/ his insurance there on the spot. Then again, what could he say - "Well officer, this 24' trailer suddenly appeared from the middle of the street and I couldn't avoid it." While I was dealing w/ that, the wife called the dealer to explain why we were headed right back there less than an hour after we had just left. They were great and their warranty person called us back right away to walk us through their insurance process. So, the TT never actually got unhitched, but we did. After getting the claims info squared away, we drove back up to the dealer and left our sad looking Roo in the same spot we just left. We'll find out tomorrow just how bad the damage is, but we're not optimistic for this weekend.

I did take some solace in the fact that he totally ripped the crap out of the entire side of his Infiniti QX56 - from the headlight down to the taillight. There wasn't a straight or unscratched piece of metal left, including his side mirror.

Man that's tough. I can imagine how pi@@ed you were. There are accidents and then there is just plain stupidity. Maybe you should have let the wife take him. A little more humilation for him, getting his a@@ kicked by a women!

I'm glad no one was injured and it sounds like you have a great dealer that will work hard at getting you fixed up. Hopefully the damage isn't as bad as you think.

Aw man, that us jest horrible! But good that no one got hurt. I agree, you should have let your wife have at him. A black eye or two could have easily been experienced with him hitting the steering wheel, right? LOL. I hope you get back on the road soon. Good luck!

WOW - just read that and you have good details - Depending on how bad it really is I would want a new trailer since it was just driven off the lot - Good Luck and hopefully the dealer will take care of it and the jack ass who hit you doesnt try to change his story for the insurance to put a hold on your's getting fixed.

Like stated above glad no one got hurt and the infinity took alot of damage - that will fix him for being impatient

Thanks for all the support. Finally figured out how to get pics from the new camera onto the computer and into the forum (I think). This pic best shows the damage. I made a few annotations. And yes, I was a PowerPoint jockey in a previous life.